CHAPTER 5:Chemical Kinetics
Copyright © 2020 by Nob Hill Publishing, LLC
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a framework for determining the reaction rate given a detailed statement of the reaction chemistry. We use several concepts from the subject of chemical kinetics to illustrate two key points: 1 The stoichiometry of an elementary reaction defines the concentration dependence of the rate expression. 2 The quasi-steady-state assumption (QSSA) and the reaction equilibrium assumption allow us to generate reaction-rate expressions that capture the details of the reaction chemistry with a minimum number of rate constants.
1 / 152 The Concepts
The concepts include: the elementary reaction Tolman’s principle of microscopic reversibility elementary reaction kinetics the quasi-steady-state assumption the reaction equilibrium assumption The goals here are to develop a chemical kinetics basis for the empirical expression, and to show that kinetic analysis can be used to take mechanistic insight and describe reaction rates from first principles.
2 / 152 Reactions at Surfaces
We also discuss heterogeneous catalytic adsorption and reaction kinetics. Catalysis has a significant impact on the United States economy1 and many important reactions employ catalysts.2 We demonstrate how the concepts for homogeneous reactions apply to heterogeneously catalyzed reactions with the added constraint of surface-site conservation. The physical characteristics of catalysts are discussed in Chapter 7.
1Catalysis is at the heart of the chemical industry, with sales in 1990 of $292 billion and employment of 1.1 million, and the petroleum refining industry, which had sales of $140 billion and employment of 0.75 million in 1990 [13]. 2Between 1930 and the 1980s, 63 major products and 34 major process innovations were introduced by the chemical industry. More than 60% of the products and 90% of these processes were based on catalysis[13]. 3 / 152 Elementary Reactions and Microscopic Reversibility
Stoichiometric statements such as
A + B )−*− C
are used to represent the changes that occur during a chemical reaction. These statements can be interpreted in two ways. The reaction statement may represent the change in the relative amounts of species that is observed when the reaction proceeds. overall stoichiometry Or the reaction statement may represent the actual molecular events that are presumed to occur as the reaction proceeds. elementary reaction The elementary reaction is characterized by a change from reactants to products that proceeds without identifiable intermediate species forming.
4 / 152 Elementary Reactions and Rate Expressions
For an elementary reaction, the reaction rates for the forward and reverse paths are proportional to the concentration of species taking part in the reaction raised to the absolute value of their stoichiometric coefficients. The reaction order in all species is determined directly from the stoichiometry. Elementary reactions are usually unimolecular or bimolecular because the probability of collision between several species is low and is not observed at appreciable rates. For an overall stoichiometry, on the other hand, any correspondence between the stoichiometric coefficients and the reaction order is purely coincidental.
5 / 152 Some Examples — Acetone decomposition
The first example involves the mechanism proposed for the thermal decomposition of acetone at 900 K to ketene and methyl-ethyl ketone (2-butanone) [17]. The overall reaction can be represented by
3CH3COCH3 −→ CO + 2CH4 + CH2CO + CH3COC2H5
6 / 152 Acetone decomposition
The reaction is proposed to proceed by the following elementary reactions
3CH3COCH3 −→ CO + 2CH4 + CH2CO + CH3COC2H5
CH3COCH3 −→ CH3 + CH3CO
CH3CO −→ CH3 + CO
CH3 + CH3COCH3 −→ CH4 + CH3COCH2
CH3COCH2 −→ CH2CO + CH3
CH3 + CH3COCH2 −→ CH3COC2H5
7 / 152 Acetone decomposition
The thermal decomposition of acetone generates four stable molecules that can be removed from the reaction vessel: CO, CH4, CH2CO and CH3COC2H5. Three radicals are formed and consumed during the thermal decomposition of acetone: CH3, CH3CO and CH3COCH2. These three radicals are reaction intermediates and cannot be isolated outside of the reaction vessel.
8 / 152 Overall stoichiometry from Mechanism
Assign the species to the A vector as follows Species Formula Name A1 CH3COCH3 acetone A2 CH3 methyl radical A3 CH3CO acetyl radical A4 CO carbon monoxide A5 CH3COCH2 acetone radical A6 CH2CO ketene A7 CH4 methane A8 CH3COC2H5 methyl ethyl ketone The stoichiometric matrix is −1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 −1 1 0 0 0 0 ν = −1 −1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 −1 1 0 0 0 −1 0 0 −1 0 0 1
9 / 152 Overall stoichiometry from Mechanism
Multiply ν by 1 1 2 1 1 We obtain −3 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 which is the overall stoichiometry given in Reaction 5.1.
10 / 152 Example Two — Smog
The second example involves one of the major reactions responsible for the production of photochemical smog. The overall reaction and one possible mechanism are
2NO2 + hν −→ 2NO + O2
NO2 + hν −→ NO + O
O + NO2 )−*− NO3
NO3 + NO2 −→ NO + O2 + NO2
NO3 + NO −→ 2NO2
O + NO2 −→ NO + O2
11 / 152 Smog
In this reaction mechanism, nitrogen dioxide is activated by absorbing photons and decomposes to nitric oxide and oxygen radicals (elementary Reaction 5.8).
Stable molecules are formed: NO and O2
Radicals, O and NO3, are generated and consumed during the photochemical reaction. Work through the steps to determine the linear combination of the mechanistic steps that produces the overall reaction.
12 / 152 Example Three — Methane Synthesis
The third example involves the synthesis of methane from synthesis gas, CO and H2, over a ruthenium catalyst [6]. The overall reaction and one possible mechanism are
3H2(g) + CO(g) −→ CH4(g) + H2O(g)
CO(g) + S )−*− COs
COs + S )−*− Cs + Os
Os + H2(g) −→ H2O(g) + S
H2(g) + 2S )−*− 2Hs
Cs + Hs )−*− CHs + S
CHs + Hs )−*− CH2s + S
CH2s + Hs )−*− CH3s + S
CH3s + Hs −→ CH4(g) + 2S
13 / 152 Methane Synthesis
The subscripts g and ads refer to gas phase and adsorbed species, respectively, and S refers to a vacant ruthenium surface site. During the overall reaction, the reagents adsorb (elementary Reactions 5.150 and 5.153), and the products form at the surface and desorb (elementary Reactions 5.152 and 5.157).
Adsorbed CO (COs) either occupies surface sites or dissociates to adsorbed carbon and oxygen in elementary Reaction 5.151.
14 / 152 Methane Synthesis
The adsorbed carbon undergoes a sequential hydrogenation to methyne, methylene, and methyl, all of which are adsorbed on the surface. Hydrogenation of methyl leads to methane in elementary Reaction 5.157. In this example, the overall reaction is twice the fourth reaction added to the remaining reactions.
15 / 152 Elementary Reactions — Characteristics
One criterion for a reaction to be elementary is that as the reactants transform into the products they do so without forming intermediate species that are chemically identifiable. A second aspect of an elementary reaction is that the reverse reaction also must be possible on energy, symmetry and steric bases, using only the products of the elementary reaction. This reversible nature of elementary reactions is the essence of Tolman’s principle of microscopic reversibility [19, p. 699].
16 / 152 Microscopic Reversibility
This assumption (at equilibrium the number of molecules going in unit time from state 1 to state 2 is equal to the number going in the reverse direction) should be recognized as a distinct postulate and might be called the principle of microscopic reversibility. In the case of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium, the principle requires not only that the total number of molecules leaving a given quantum state in unit time is equal to the number arriving in that state in unit time, but also that the number leaving by any one particular path, is equal to the number arriving by the reverse of that particular path.
17 / 152 Transition State Theory
Various models or theories have been postulated to describe the rate of an elementary reaction. Transition state theory (TST)is reviewed briefly in the next section to describe the flow of systems (reactants −→ products) over potential-energy surfaces. Using Tolman’s principle, the most probable path in one direction must be the most probable path in the opposite direction. Furthermore, the Gibbs energy difference in the two directions must be equal to the overall Gibbs energy difference — the ratio of rate constants for an elementary reaction must be equal to the equilibrium constant for the elementary reaction.
18 / 152 Elementary Reaction Kinetics
In this section we outline the transition-state theory (TST), which can be used to predict the rate of an elementary reaction. Our purpose is to show how the rate of an elementary reaction is related to the concentration of reactants. The result is
Y −νij Y νij ri = ki cj − k−i cj (5.22) j∈Ri j∈Pi in which j ∈ Ri and j ∈ Pi represent the reactant species and the product species in the ith reaction, respectively. Equation 5.22 forms the basis for predicting reaction rates and is applied to homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. Because of its wide use, much of Chapter 5 describes the concepts and assumptions that underlie Equation 5.22.
19 / 152 Potential Energy Diagrams
We consider a simple reaction to illustrate the ideas
F + H H )−*− {F H H} )−*− F H + H
The potential energy V (r) of the molecule is related to the relative position of the atoms, and for a diatomic molecule the potential energy can be represented with a Morse function h i V (r) = D e−2βr − 2e−βr in which D is the dissociation energy, r is the displacement from the equilibrium bond length, and β is related to the vibrational frequency of the molecule. The following figure presents the Morse functions for HF and H2 molecules.
20 / 152 Potential energy of HF and H2 molecules
200
150 HHF
100 rHF rHH
50
0 V (kcal/mol)
−50
HH −100 HF
−150 0 1 2 3 4 5
rHH, rHF (A)˚
Figure 5.1: Morse potential for H2 and HF.
21 / 152 Coordinate system for multi-atom molecules
Molecules containing N atoms require 3N Cartesian coordinates to specify the locations of all the nuclei. Consider a moleculre of three atoms; we require only three coordinates to describe the internuclear distances. We choose the two distances from the center atom and the bond angle as the three coordinates. The potential energy is a function of all three coordinate values. A plot of the energy would be a three-dimensional surface, requiring four dimensions to plot the surface.
22 / 152 Coordinate system
We fix the bond angle by choosing a collinear molecule Only the two distances relative to a central atom are required to describe the molecule. The potential energy can be expressed as a function of these two distances, and we can view this case as a three-dimensional plot.
23 / 152 Collinear Approach of HF and H2
Figure 5.2 shows a representative view of such a surface for the collinear collision between F and H2.
F + H H )−*− {F H H} )−*− F H + H
Several sources provided the data used to calculate this potential-energy surface [14, 16, 15]. Moore and Pearson provide a more detailed discussion of computing potential-energy surfaces [12].
24 / 152 Collinear Approach of HF and H2
V (kcal/mol) 0 −40 −80 −120 0 0.5 1 0 0.5 1.5 r (A)˚ 1 HH 2 1.5 2 2.5 rHF (A)˚ 2.5 3 3
Figure 5.2: Potential-energy surface for the F, H2 reaction.
25 / 152 Collinear Approach of HF and H2 – Energy Contours
3
2.5
2 ˚ A) ( 1.5 HH r
1
0.5
0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
rHF (A)˚
Figure 5.3: Contour representation of the potential-energy surface.
26 / 152 The energy surface
Large rHF. F atoms exist along with H2 molecules. Reproduces the H2 curve in Figure 5.1.
Large rHH. H atoms exist along with HF molecules. Reproduces the curve for HF in Figure 5.1.
As the F atom is brought into contact with H2 in a collinear fashion, a surface of energies is possible that depends on the values of rHF and rHH. The minimum energy path along the valleys is shown by the dashed line in Figures 5.2 and 5.3.
The reaction starts in the H2 valley at large rHF, proceeds along the minimum energy path and ends in the HF valley at large rHH.
27 / 152 The energy surface
The transistion state is is the saddle point connecting the two vallyes. the minimum energy path is a saddle point. The dashed line is referred to as the reaction-coordinate pathway, and movement along this path is the reaction coordinate, ξ. Figure 5.4 is a reaction-coordinate diagram, which displays the energy change during this reaction.
28 / 152 Reaction coordinate diagram
-90
-95
-100
-105
-110 (kcal/mol)
V -115
-120
-125
-130 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ξ
Figure 5.4: Reaction-coordinate diagram.
29 / 152 Reaction coordinate diagram
The reaction coordinate represents travel along the minimum energy path from reactants to products. The difference in energies between reactants and products is the heat of reaction; in this case it is exothermic by 34 kcal/mol. The barrier height of 4 kcal/mol between reactants and products is used to calculate the activation energy for the reaction.
30 / 152 Transition state complex
The molecular structure (the relative positions of F, and two H’s) at the saddle point is called the transition-state complex. The principle of microscopic reversibility implies that the same structure at the saddle point must be realized if the reaction started at HF + H and went in reverse. The transition-state complex is NOT a chemically identifiable reaction intermediate; it is the arrangement of atoms at the point in energy space between reactants and products. Any change of relative positions of F and the two H’s for the transition-state complex (as long as the motions are collinear) results in the complex reverting to reactants or proceeding to products. Using statistical mechanics and the potential energy diagram, we can calculate the rate constant, i.e. the frequency at which the transitions state decomposes to reactants or products.
31 / 152 Fast and Slow Time Scales
One of the characteristic features of many chemically reacting systems is the widely disparate time scales at which reactions occur. It is not unusual for complex reaction mechanisms to contain rate constants that differ from each other by several orders of magnitude. Moreover, the concentrations of highly reactive intermediates may differ by orders of magnitude from the concentrations of relatively stable reactants and products. These widely different time and concentration scales present challenges for accurate estimation of rate constants, measurement of low-concentration species, and even numerical solution of complex models.
32 / 152 Fast and Slow Time Scales
On the other hand, these disparate scales often allow us to approximate the complete mechanistic description with simpler rate expressions that retain the essential features of the full problem on the time scale or in the concentration range of interest. Although these approximations were often used in earlier days to allow easier model solution, that is not their primary purpose today. The reduction of complex mechanisms removes from consideration many parameters that would be difficult to estimate from available data. The next two sections describe two of the most widely used methods of model simplification: the equilibrium assumption and the quasi-steady-state assumption.
33 / 152 The Reaction Equilibrium Assumption
In the reaction equilibrium assumption, we reduce the full mechanism on the basis of fast and slow reactions. In a given mechanism consisting of multiple reactions, some reactions may be so much faster than others, that they equilibrate after any displacement from their equilibrium condition. The remaining, slower reactions then govern the rate at which the amounts of reactants and products change. If we take the extreme case in which all reactions except one are assumed at equilibrium, this remaining slow reaction is called the rate-limiting step. But the equilibrium approximation is more general and flexible than this one case. We may decompose a full set of reactions into two sets consisting of any number of slow and fast reactions, and make the equilibrium assumption on the set of fast reactions.
34 / 152 The archetype example of fast and slow reactions
We illustrate the main features with the simple series reaction
k1 k2 A )−*− B, B )−*− C k−1 k−2
Assume that the rate constants k2, k−2 are much larger than the rate constants k1, k−1, so the second reaction equilibrates quickly. By contrast, the first reaction is slow and can remain far from equilibrium for a significant period of time. Because the only other reaction in the network is at equilibrium, the slow, first reaction is called the rate-limiting step. We show that the rate of this slow reaction does indeed determine or limit the rate at which the concentrations change.
35 / 152 The complete case
We start with the full model and demonstrate what happens if k2, k−2 k1, k−1. Consider the solution to the full model with rate constants k1 = 1, k−1 = 0.5, k2 = k−2 = 1 and initial conditions cA(0) = 1.0, cB (0) = 0.4, cC (0) = 0 shown in Figure 5.6.
36 / 152 Full model, rates about the same
1
0.8 cA
0.6 cB
0.4 concentration
0.2 cC
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 t
Figure 5.6: Full model solution for k1 = 1, k−1 = 0.5, k2 = k−2 = 1.
37 / 152 Turn up the second rate
1
0.8 cA
0.6
0.4 cB concentration
0.2 cC
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 t
Figure 5.7: Full model solution for k1 = 1, k−1 = 0.5, k2 = k−2 = 10.
38 / 152 Turn it way up
0.4
0.35
cB 0.3
0.25
0.2
concentration 0.15
0.1 cC k2 = 10 k = 20 0.05 2 k2 = 50 k2 = 100 0 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 t
Figure 5.8: Concentrations of B and C versus time for full model with increasing k2 with K2 = k2/k−2 = 1.
39 / 152 Now let’s do some analysis
We now analyze the kinetic model. The text shows how to derive models for both the fast and slow time scales. The text also treats models in terms of reaction extent and concentration variables. Here I will focus on only the slow time scale model, and only the concentration variables. The main thing we are trying to do is enforce the condition that the second reaction is at equilibrium. We therefore set its rate to zero to find the equilibrium relationship between cB and cC .
40 / 152 Equilibrium constraint
The equilibrium assumption is made by adding the algebraic constraint that r2 = 0 or K2cB − cC = 0.
r2 = 0 = k2cB − k−2cC
k2 0 = K2cB − cC , K2 = k−2 The mole balances for the full model are dc dc dc A = −r , B = r − r , C = r dt 1 dt 1 2 dt 2
We can add the mole balances for components B and C to eliminate r2 d(c + c ) B C = r (5.45) dt 1
Notice we have not set r2 = 0 to obtain this result. Equation 5.45 involves no approximation.
41 / 152 Getting back to ODEs
If we differentiate the equilibrium condition, we obtain a second relation, K2dcB /dt − dcC /dt = 0, which allows us to solve for both dcB /dt and dcC /dt,
dcB 1 dcC K2 = r1 = r1 (∗) dt 1 + K2 dt 1 + K2
42 / 152 Equations Fast Time Scale(τ = k−2t) Slow Time Scale(t)
dcA dcA = 0, c (0) = c = −r1, c (0) = c dτ A A0 dt A A0 dcB dcB 1 ODEs = −(K2cB − cC ), cB (0) = cB0 = r1, cB (0) = cBs dτ dt 1+K2
dcC dcC K2 = K2cB − cC , cC (0) = cC0 = r1, cC (0) = cCs dτ dt 1+K2 dcA c = c = −r1, c (0) = c A A0 dt A A0 dcB DAEs = −(K2c − c ), c (0) = c 0 = K2c − c dτ B C B B0 B C
0 = cA − cA0 + cB − cB0 + cC − cC0 0 = cA − cA0 + cB − cB0 + cC − cC0
1 K2 cBs = (cB0 + cC0), cCs = (cB0 + cC0) 1+K2 1+K2
43 / 152 Full model and equilibrium assumption
1 full model equilibrium assumption
0.8
cA
0.6
0.4 cB concentration
0.2 cC
0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 t
Figure 5.9: Comparison of equilibrium assumption to full model for k1 = 1, k−1 = 0.5, k2 = k−2 = 10.
44 / 152 A trap to avoid
Critique your colleague’s proposal. “Look, you want to enforce cC = K2cB , right? Well, that means r2 = 0, so just set it to zero, and be done with it. I get the following result.”
dc dc dc A = −r B = r − r C = r full model dt 1 dt 1 2 dt 2 dc dc dc A = −r B = r C = 0 reduced model dt 1 dt 1 dt The result for B and C doesn’t agree with Equation (∗). What went wrong?
45 / 152 Paradox lost
Let’s look at C’s mass balance again dc C = k c − k c dt 2 B −2 C
= k−2(K2cB − cC )
Your colleague is suggesting this product is zero because the second term is zero, but what did we do to make the full model approach equilibrium?
We made k2, k−2 large!
46 / 152 Paradox lost
So here’s the flaw. dcC = k−2 (K2cB − cC ) 6= 0 dt |{z} | {z } goes to ∞! goes to 0 The product does not go to zero. In fact we just showed
dcC K2 = r1 dt 1 + K2 This fact is far from obvious without the analysis that we did.
47 / 152 Further special cases – second reaction irreversible
We start with the slow time-scale model given in the table and take the limit as K2 −→ ∞ giving
dc A = −r , c (0) = c dt 1 A A0 dc B = 0, c (0) = 0 dt B dc C = r , c (0) = c + c dt 1 C B0 C0
In this limit the B disappears, cB (t) = 0, and r1 = k1cA, which describes the irreversible reaction of A directly to C with rate constant k1
k A −→1 C
We see in the next section that this case is well described also by making the quasi-steady-state assumption on species B.
48 / 152 Second reaction irreversible in other direction
Take the second reaction as irreversible in the backward direction, K2 = 0. We obtain from the table dc A = −r , c (0) = c dt 1 A A0 dc B = r , c (0) = c + c dt 1 B B0 C0 dc C = 0, c (0) = 0 dt C This describes the reversible reaction between A and B with no second reaction, cC (t) = 0,
k1 A )−*− B k−1 Under the equilibrium assumption, we see that the two series reactions in Equation 5.41 may reduce to A going directly and irreversibly to C, Equation 5.46, or A going reversibly to B, Equation 5.47, depending on the magnitude of the equilibrium constant of the second, fast reaction.
49 / 152 The Quasi-Steady-State Assumption
In the quasi-steady-state assumption, we reduce the full mechanism on the basis of rapidly equilibrating species rather than reactions as in the reaction equilibrium assumption. Highly reactive intermediate species are usually present only in small concentrations. Examples of these transitory species include atoms, radicals, ions and molecules in excited states.
50 / 152 The Quasi-Steady-State Assumption
We set the production rate of these species equal to zero, which enables their concentration to be determined in terms of reactants and products using algebraic equations. After solving for these small concentration species, one is then able to construct reaction-rate expressions for the stable reactants and stable products in terms of reactant and product concentrations only. The idea to set the production rate of a reaction intermediate equal to zero has its origins in the early 1900s [2, 4] and has been termed the Bodenstein-steady-state, pseudo-steady-state, or quasi-steady-state assumption. The intermediate species are referred to as QSSA species [20].
51 / 152 QSSA Example
To illustrate the QSSA consider the simple elementary reaction
k k A −→1 BB −→2 C
Let the initial concentration in a constant-volume, isothermal, batch reactor be cA = cA0, cB = cC = 0. The exact solution to the set of reactions is
−k1t cA = cA0e
k1 −k1t −k2t cB = cA0 e − e k2 − k1
1 −k1t −k2t cC = cA0 k2(1 − e ) − k1(1 − e ) (5.52) k2 − k1
52 / 152 Making B a highly reactive intermediate species
We make k2 >> k1 in order for B to be in low concentration. Formation reactions are much slower than consumption reactions. Figure 5.10 shows the normalized concentration of C given in Equation 5.52 versus time for different values of k2/k1.